Do Archmages get any better?

Bahumat

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I know there is going to be a patch which addresses all the classes and gives them some love, however for the time being. Do we get anything to make us better?

I am currently level 25 and for the past 5 levels i've not been having any fun. I am dot/debuff specced so I can get the 50% less heal on target DoT and in the BG's I play as a healer. When I see Zealots healing people (or themselves), I throw on the dot to make their life harder.

What I find is the Insta HoT is lovely, however the Heal&HoT seems a bit shit. The Group heal is kinda nice, but I think it should heal for more due to the 3 second cast time. I have my tactics setup for healing but I just find it hard work.

Someone said to me "Archmages cant heal against focused targets like a Runepriest can". I think that's correct to some extent.

I realise if I want to heal I should pick that mastery line, however I also want to be able to xp. At the moment I have 4 DoT's (5 if you count the offensive talent proc) and it just feels a bit weak in pve. Sure, I dont die but it just seems like im casting all these DoT's which do bugger all damage.
 

Libh

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if you want to heal spec for that and level in scenarios?

allso I think that archmages heals better vs single targets than the RP, just because of the channeled heal they get.
 

Bahumat

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Yeah but having to xp just in Scenario's is a bit of a pain. Most of the time Order lose, and I dont really enjoy the BG's that much :(
 

Afran

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AM's are the weakest of the healing classes at end-game currently. But come heal me!
 

Libh

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AM's are the weakest of the healing classes at end-game currently. But come heal me!

realy? seemes like the aoe detaunt is sweet... with the "running betwen worlds" (I think its called) talent it will be up alot (every 20 sec?) more often than the RP dammage reduction buff wich is on a 3 min timer.

but then again my AM is only ever got to level 12 soo :)

as for order losing all the time, Iv found that when Im on my RP we usaly win if theres another healer there with me, when Im on my SM we win if we have enugh healers (cept when I was level 21 in the t2 and I could just slam into destro and aoe knockback and aoe causing havoc, then we sometimes won with just a good team and little to no healing [read; meleing WPs]), and when Im on my WP we usaly win if there is another guy in there healing with me.
So moral of the story, if you play a healer and heal everyone you win scenarios more often than not. :p
 

Bahumat

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AM's are the weakest of the healing classes at end-game currently. But come heal me!

Lol I saw you in a few BG's with triple the xp of anyone else (am guessing you were solo). Threw you a few heals and then thought "fuck it, throw some dots out and get myself some xp".
 

Rulke

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With "bugged" funnel essence we're amazing burst healers
 

charl8tan

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I know there is going to be a patch which addresses all the classes and gives them some love, however for the time being. Do we get anything to make us better?

I am currently level 25 and for the past 5 levels i've not been having any fun. I am dot/debuff specced so I can get the 50% less heal on target DoT and in the BG's I play as a healer. When I see Zealots healing people (or themselves), I throw on the dot to make their life harder.

What I find is the Insta HoT is lovely, however the Heal&HoT seems a bit shit. The Group heal is kinda nice, but I think it should heal for more due to the 3 second cast time. I have my tactics setup for healing but I just find it hard work.

Someone said to me "Archmages cant heal against focused targets like a Runepriest can". I think that's correct to some extent.

I realise if I want to heal I should pick that mastery line, however I also want to be able to xp. At the moment I have 4 DoT's (5 if you count the offensive talent proc) and it just feels a bit weak in pve. Sure, I dont die but it just seems like im casting all these DoT's which do bugger all damage.
I don't know who said to you that Archmages can't heal against focused damage like a Rune Priest, but it's certainly not the case. Personally I would say Archmages are the best (and only dedicated - if spec'd) healer on Order side, as while Warrior Priests have a healing tree they must melee and poke stuff in order to work their magic. Rune Priests do not have one tree dedicated to healing like we do. Sure they have more instant abilities, however instant spam is still screwed over by the GCD.

I use Healing Energy quite a lot in all honesty, at Rank 40 (with the tactic to increase it by 35%) mine lands for around 8-900. If someone is getting bummed you obviously stand more chance of saving them if they're in your group (Shield of Saphery) and I haven't yet seen someone go down that I've tried keeping up that a Rune Priest would have had more success with.

If Restorative Burst restored it's AP's whilst casting (instead of basically doing nothing...) and/or Wild Healing actually worked, Archmages would shoot so far ahead on healing it would be unreal. It's very rare that I see a Rune Priest even close to me on healing now (though of course it does happen sometimes).

I levelled the entire way as full healing spec, bar the last level or so, where I was only doing PvE (solo questing) so spec'd Asuryan/Vaul as I knew I wouldn't enter any scenarios/groups. Normally (as Isha spec) you can take 4/5 mobs at a time, dotting them all up and just healing yourself through it. As "damage" spec I found that I could only safely handle 2 mobs, though I did kill them a bit quicker.

If you're not having fun with the class I would personally say reroll to something that you will enjoy. If you do want to be a tip-top healer, stick with it and go Path Of Isha (though you will end up swearing about Wild Healing being broken), it's well worth it at the end.

AM's are the weakest of the healing classes at end-game currently.
Wrong, we suffer a bit early/mid Tier 3 but come into our own Tier 4.
 

Gahn

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To effectively play an Am at it's best understanding the mechanics is a must.
I'm Debuff specced and end up as top 1-3 Healers in every BG at lvl 18.
 

Succi

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actually, the mechanics are almost worthless right now but hopefully will be fixed in 1.1
 

Gahn

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actually, the mechanics are almost worthless right now but hopefully will be fixed in 1.1

Well so and so, main prob is HOTs aren't that great.
Building Force to 4 reduces Cast Time of Boon Of Hysh to 0,5 sec or so. Almost instant.
 

charl8tan

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Well so and so, main prob is HOTs aren't that great.
Building Force to 4 reduces Cast Time of Boon Of Hysh to 0,5 sec or so. Almost instant.
Which takes a minimum of 5.6 seconds, then you have the cast remaining on that (you are correct in that 4 Force brings it down to 0.5 seconds) taking it to 6.1 in which time you could have just cast BoH twice, or four times if you have the Morale 2 active.

You could admittedly just build to three Force (4.2 seconds) and then cast it with a 1.5 second cast time which would only put you 0.1 seconds over the GCD but still land you at a total of 5.7 seconds for a 3 second spell. If we continue to reduce the Force built to 2 (2.8 seconds) the cast would then be 2 seconds, equating again to a longer duration cast time than if you just cast BoH straight up (4.8 in this case).

And (at 40) my BoH crits for around 3k, though I prefer to use Healing Energy as the total (if two are cast on different people) is more once the HoT effect has ticked out.

Understanding the mechanic in it's full = realising it's rather crap. The cast time reduction is completely flawed by the simple fact that you can throw out more heals by not bothering with the damage spells. And the increase in potency (for the instants) is also completely negligible. As a full Isha spec'd AM I throw off a Transfer Force once I have 5 Tranquility, purely for the extra HoT effect on my current defensive target, as although the total amount it heals is not much, it certainly ups my potential HPS on one ally (and it's easy to keep up 2 different Transfer Force, both having been used at 5 Tranquility). Additionally, for those that may not have noticed, Transfer Force is in the Path of Isha, which makes it the perfect Tranquility dump for a dedicated healing Archmage.

I don't intend to be offensive here, but to even try and suggest that you are using the High Magic mechanic effectively enough to compete with an Isha spec'd Archmage is laughable. Whilst you offer other utility to the Group/Warband, in addition to some healing, a fully dedicated healing Archmage will leave you for dust. The mechanic is a good idea, but it doesn't function to the level Mythic originally intended (from what I've read and tried at least).

At the end of it, play how you want to, it's your game after all. But don't pretend to be something you are not, I don't for a minute think the damage I do with the buffed up Transfer Force is actually helping out, it's just an extra source of healing for me. Saying that, the extra healing added by a damage or debuff oriented Archmage is appreciated and most definitely useful but it will not compete with a healing focused Archmage.

One thing that I find mildly annoying is the instant hot Lambent Aura, the simple fact that it does not fall under any of the Mastery Lines, instead only receiving an increase from your Willpower or Tranquility you have built. It is still an incredibly powerful heal though, and is certainly something that should be considered when at 5 Tranquility, especially if you are not Isha spec'd. The healing from it (at 40) is 1500 without taking Willpower or Tranquility into account, which I believe will do more (over time admittedly) than a non-Isha spec'd BoH (1875 with 5 Tranquility compared to 1125 - Willpower increasing this further. Of course, that figure will be lower if you are using the Divine Fury Tactic, but that goes for both heals so the final result is the same (LA > BoH non-Isha spec'd).

Ok short version:

Healers dump Tranquility in Transfer Force.
Damage/Debuff dump Force in Lambent Aura, Blessing of Isha (if the Group is in need overall) or Boon of Hysh if one ally is heading down poopstick river.

Whoops, wall of text...
 

Gahn

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Which takes a minimum of 5.6 seconds, then you have the cast remaining on that (you are correct in that 4 Force brings it down to 0.5 seconds) taking it to 6.1 in which time you could have just cast BoH twice, or four times if you have the Morale 2 active.

You could admittedly just build to three Force (4.2 seconds) and then cast it with a 1.5 second cast time which would only put you 0.1 seconds over the GCD but still land you at a total of 5.7 seconds for a 3 second spell. If we continue to reduce the Force built to 2 (2.8 seconds) the cast would then be 2 seconds, equating again to a longer duration cast time than if you just cast BoH straight up (4.8 in this case).

And (at 40) my BoH crits for around 3k, though I prefer to use Healing Energy as the total (if two are cast on different people) is more once the HoT effect has ticked out.

Understanding the mechanic in it's full = realising it's rather crap. The cast time reduction is completely flawed by the simple fact that you can throw out more heals by not bothering with the damage spells. And the increase in potency (for the instants) is also completely negligible. As a full Isha spec'd AM I throw off a Transfer Force once I have 5 Tranquility, purely for the extra HoT effect on my current defensive target, as although the total amount it heals is not much, it certainly ups my potential HPS on one ally (and it's easy to keep up 2 different Transfer Force, both having been used at 5 Tranquility). Additionally, for those that may not have noticed, Transfer Force is in the Path of Isha, which makes it the perfect Tranquility dump for a dedicated healing Archmage.

I don't intend to be offensive here, but to even try and suggest that you are using the High Magic mechanic effectively enough to compete with an Isha spec'd Archmage is laughable. Whilst you offer other utility to the Group/Warband, in addition to some healing, a fully dedicated healing Archmage will leave you for dust. The mechanic is a good idea, but it doesn't function to the level Mythic originally intended (from what I've read and tried at least).

At the end of it, play how you want to, it's your game after all. But don't pretend to be something you are not, I don't for a minute think the damage I do with the buffed up Transfer Force is actually helping out, it's just an extra source of healing for me. Saying that, the extra healing added by a damage or debuff oriented Archmage is appreciated and most definitely useful but it will not compete with a healing focused Archmage.

One thing that I find mildly annoying is the instant hot Lambent Aura, the simple fact that it does not fall under any of the Mastery Lines, instead only receiving an increase from your Willpower or Tranquility you have built. It is still an incredibly powerful heal though, and is certainly something that should be considered when at 5 Tranquility, especially if you are not Isha spec'd. The healing from it (at 40) is 1500 without taking Willpower or Tranquility into account, which I believe will do more (over time admittedly) than a non-Isha spec'd BoH (1875 with 5 Tranquility compared to 1125 - Willpower increasing this further. Of course, that figure will be lower if you are using the Divine Fury Tactic, but that goes for both heals so the final result is the same (LA > BoH non-Isha spec'd).

Ok short version:

Healers dump Tranquility in Transfer Force.
Damage/Debuff dump Force in Lambent Aura, Blessing of Isha (if the Group is in need overall) or Boon of Hysh if one ally is heading down poopstick river.

Whoops, wall of text...

Oh well as i said i'm still at 18 (oops 19) on Am, so can't really judge at level 40 how the mechanics impact the game :)
That said i'm debuff specced so my role is more of a backup healer, pre Hotting ppl and building Force to cast some "oops i saved your ass" big heal now and then, back on prehotting rinse and repeat.
 

Rulke

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The mechanic is very situational, it has it's moments but most of the time in PvP I don't really have time or AP to do anything other than spam heal.

Hopefully 1.1 will incorporate some AP reduction in the High Magic mechanic
 

charl8tan

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The mechanic is very situational, it has it's moments but most of the time in PvP I don't really have time or AP to do anything other than spam heal.

Hopefully 1.1 will incorporate some AP reduction in the High Magic mechanic
They just need to fix Wild Healing and Restorative Burst (ok, Restorative Burst is tricky because maybe it's supposed to only restore the 160 AP when you stop casting, but at least say it on the tin!) and our AP issues will be greatly reduced.
 

Bahumat

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Just a couple of updates.

At 26 I had mostly Intel gear but I used the Healing Tactics and respecced the Healing Master line. That spell you get low level (does a very small heal and ok HoT) was now pretty awesome! I was getting 400-500 off the heal so it was easy to keep people up under fire (used shield and insta hot too).

Archmage makes a great healer once you spec for it. The mastery improves your healing much more than you'd think.

I am however not a healer so I re-rolled to a Witch Hunter (lvl 27) woo!
 

TheBinarySurfer

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AM have amazing potential as healers, but right now their core mechanic is both flawed and easily open to misinterpretation (the amount of AM's who believe they should only heal/dps when at 5 in the opposite mechanic is truly worrying...Also they tend to use instants which defeats the point of the mechanic!).

Currently it takes a lot of skill to make the class as good as a Rune Priest - i'm hopeing that changes before we reach a 2.0 patch stage...(RP's and WP's are currently the prevalent order healers past 30 - check the player surveys).
 

Nate

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The instants raise in damage/heal when you get points in it so it's not entirely waisting it.
 

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